The Rites of Spring

It's here, officially here. I know it is. Never mind the calendar!!

This morning, it was throwing off the blankets time when I realized that I had been sleeping too warm last night. No getting up and donning the sweats. At my first awakening, I knew that short-sleeves was the order of the day. And all this means get ready for spring cleaning!

Washable jackets pulled from the closets, overstuffed bedding slipped from the beds, crispy clean sheets, washer chugging along ... the mandate comes from without and seeps to within, and it's good.

I wonder if spring brings a natural renewal to everyone. Stories from around the world indicate that it does to cultures as a whole.

In India, spring means Holi. (Interesting word, isn't it, at least in its phonetic sense.) Color is the order of the day as celebrants commemorate the triumph of good over evil.

For Iranians, spring means No Ruz, the Persian New Year, where all things must be readied for visits by guardian angels and a celebration of all that is good.

Christian thoughts of spring mean Easter, the triumph of life over death in the resurrection of Jesus. In the Western world, formed by Christian thought no matter the religious following, spring means easter with a lower-case e in thought, if not literally, complete with the traditional bunny rabbit, easter-egg hunts, new clothes, sunny bonnets with ribbons. Here's an interesting site listing a number of spring traditions: http://www.religioustolerance.org/spring_equinox.htm.

The rites of spring seem to be universal and involuntary. Our spirits quicken, our hopes spark, our bodies react. Even if we are not religious, we experience a religious event. Just as there are no atheists in fox holes, I wonder if there can be atheists at the advent of spring. Spring shouts holiness to the world - for a while, all things are born again as spring sweeps us up in its zest.